Guy Kawasaki teaches you how to publish your own book

It says a lot about the state of modern publishing that even a successful author like Guy Kawasaki finally said, “Enough!” After the publisher of his 2011 book, Enchantment, couldn’t execute on a request to deliver 500 ebook versions to a large tech company, he decided to become a self-publisher. He learned to do it successfully with What the Plus!,his book about why he believes Google+ is superior to Facebook. Now, he’s sharing everything he learned with you in APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur — How to Publish a Book.

Guy teamed up with Shawn Welch to write this book. Shawn (who shares the distinction with me of being a Kansas State grad) brought knowledge of a wide variety of technical tools and publishing formats and platforms to APE. Interestingly, Guy and Shawn met through Google+ when Guy sought advice about a self-publishing problem. Guy immediately recognized Shawn’s competence, and the two have since worked together on both What the Plus! and APE.

If you’re looking for an exhaustive guide to writing, publishing and promoting your book, APE is your one-stop guide. In 324 pages, Guy and Shawn offer advice on everything from deciding whether you should write a book (good reasons include wanting to enrich other people’s lives, taking on the intellectual challenge, furthering a cause and finding a catharsis) to which type of file works best with which platform (MOBI works best with Kindle Direct Publishing).

Shawn Welch

Even if you never self-publish, it could be worth your while to buy APE just for Guy’s thoughts about how to establish an effective social media presence. I just checked, and Guy now has 1.2 million followers on Twitter, 282,000 subscribers on Facebook and nearly 3.6 million followers on Google+. Clearly, he can teach you a thing or two about navigating and making an impact on social media.

For the first 90 days, APE is available exclusively through Amazon Kindle. After that time, you’ll be able to buy it on the iBookstore, Nook, Google Play, and via direct PDF download. But why wait? It’s a great read and a wonderful, detailed overview of everything you need to know to become an author, a publisher, and an entrepreneurial promoter of your book. Guy and Shawn have made a significant contribution to anyone trying to figure out the vagaries of 21st-century publishing.